How did the culture of advertising develop in India?
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Indian Advertising starts with the hawkers calling out their wares right from the days when cities and markets first began. Concrete advertising history begins with classified advertising. Ads appear for the first time in print in Hickey’s Bengal Gazette, India’s first newspaper (weekly) . To ‘advertise’ meant merely to ‘inform’ until the end of the eighteenth century, and the early newspapers and periodicals announced births, deaths, arrivals of ships from England, sale of household furniture, etc. some journals like the Bengal Journal (first published in 1785) even offered to print government advertisements free.
The front page of most such journals carried only advertisements. But before long persuasive copy began to replace mere information. This is evident from the appearance of punch lines such as ‘superior to anything of the kind hitherto imported’ and ‘warranted to the first quality’. Discounts and special services also began to be offered by the beginning of the nineteenth century. Later, new products and services established themselves on the market through the advertisement columns of the newspapers and periodicals. The power of advertising increased rapidly with the growth in trade and commerce.
With the increasing impact of the industrial revolution on our country, the number of advertisements from British business houses rose sharply. ‘Agents’ flourished at the time as space contractors, obtaining advertisements for newspapers and periodicals on a commission basis. Leading newspapers like ‘The Statement’ and ‘The Times of India’, which had their own advertising departments, offered their own facilities to ‘agents’. This was of great advantage to both the advertiser and the publisher, for the advertiser, it saved the bother of preparing a suitable layout for the advertisements, for the publisher, it assured a certain uniformity of standard in the advertisements appearing in its column. This practice was responsible for turning advertising into a distinct profession. These ‘agents’ were forerunners of the ‘advertising agencies’.